This invention relates generally to an ink cartridge for an ink jet printer having ink supply and waste ink recovery means and more particularly to the construction of an ink cartridge having a housing section containing an ink supply section and a waste ink recovery section.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional ink cartridge 60 for an ink jet printer comprising two sections: a waste ink recovery section 63 and ink bag or supply section 64. Sections 63 and 64 are partitioned by an inner wall or lid 51 forming separated housing chambers. Section 64 contains an ink bag 61 coupled to outlet port 65, and section 63 contains an absorber 62 in fluid communication with inlet port 66.
Another example of a conventional ink cartridge is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 108153/1983. The ink cartridge in this patent discloses an ink bag and a porous ink absorber for absorbing waste ink within the same chamber containing the ink bag.
The problem encountered in connection with the two sections of ink cartridge 60 in FIG. 1 is that it is necessary to have a sufficiently large waste ink recovery section 63 to contain an absorber having a volume capable of recovering the entire volume of ink supply contained in ink bag 61. This capability is provided to cover the unlikely event of recovering all ink that may be dispensed from bag 61. As a result, the volume of waste ink recovery section 63 has to be substantially the same as the volume of ink supply section 64, and, as a result, the volume of the entire ink cartridge 61 is large in order to accommodate the entire ink supply volume in either section of the cartridge. This is also true in the case of cartridge of Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 108153/1983 wherein a large volume porous or sponge-like absorber brings about no change in the volume of the waste ink recovery section before absorption of ink so that it is necessary to initially include in the design of the ink cartridge an absorber having a volume sufficient to absorb the entire volume of ink supply within the cartridge ink bag. Thus, as in the case of ink cartridge 60 having separated waste ink recovery and ink supply sections, the total volume of the ink cartridge is also large.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ink cartridge wherein the size of the cartridge is remarkably reduced while providing a waste ink recovery means which can adequately accommodate the entire volume of the ink supply means.